So yesterday we all went down to my granny’s house and we wound up watching School of Rock on TBS. Now, if you have not seen School of Rock, then you need to go right now and rent it. This film is one of my favorites, and its very hard to top.

So I got to thinking about some of the qualities that define a truly great film. And while I can’t list ALL of them, I would like to share what I feel are some of the most important qualities some films have. (and yes, I think school of rock has all these qualities)

Characters – This one should go without saying. No film is worth watching unless you can like the characters. Even if you can’t relate to them, you’ve got to love them.

Don’t want it to end – This is kind of an effect of having really good characters. It is when you don’t want the film to end, and you want to see more of these characters. But I had better clarify what I mean, I do not mean that the movie is too short,. School of rock tells a great story, and while it ends when it needs too, you still want to see more of these characters. I also do not mean it needs a sequel. (a school of rock sequel would probably be terrible) I just mean that the film is so good, you are almost sad to see it end.

Seems to get better and better – This is a hard one to tackle. While there are many great films that are only good one time, the best films seem to get better every time you watch them. (that is assuming that there is some time in-between viewings)

Suspension of Disbelief – This is probably the most important aspect of any movie. (or book, or videogame for that matter) I have heard this term explained in many ways, but the best explanation is that the viewer just believes what is happening and is totally immersed in it. The way I describe it is when you are watching a good movie, the rest of the world seems to melt away, and its almost as though you are in the little world that this movie has created. If a movie does not pull you in, then the movie has not done its job.

While you can probably think of many more qualities of a good movie. (I no doubt will come up with some more later) I think you can agree that these are all important qualities for a film to have.

…perhaps I shall do one of these for videogames sometime….

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2 Responses to “Signs of a Good Film”

This is a really good post and I instantly have a lot to say haha.
Characters-I definitely agree, but there have been characters in the past that I loved to hate, these villains that just worked so well. (Christoph Waltz from Inglourious Basterds as the just terribly evil Colonel Hans Landa). I know you feel that same way and you mean the same thing but I just wanted to bring that up.

Don’t Want it To End-Completely agree there, a good movie will pull you into the universe and hopefully you won’t want to leave that reality. There have been times though I was ready to leave that world, everything’s wrapped up, and you’re content with leaving and with the film. Not disagreeing, just noting that.

I especially love the “Suspension of Disbelief”. Most recently with “Shutter Island”, I completely believed in the character of Teddy Daniels and I felt as if even I was trapped on Shutter Island and yet I wanted to stay on the island to find out what more there was to discover.